A Royal Navy submariner allegedly
passed computer codes used to
encrypt secret messages to an enemy
state, the Old Bailey heard.
Petty Officer Edward Devenney, 29, is
accused of breaching the Official
Secrets Act by collecting and passing
on the code breaking data.

He is said to have handed over the
secret information, which might be
useful to an enemy, to an unnamed
individual in January this year.
He is also accused of gathering data
on encryption and cryptography
technology between November 18 last
year and March 7 this year.
Cryptography is the technique used in
programmes to encrypt secret
information.
Information on the techniques is likely
to be examined in a closed hearing at
any future trial.

He was arrested at his barracks in
Plymouth in March. At an earlier
hearing, Westminster magistrates’
court heard he allegedly offered
military information to a foreign
embassy.
An application for bail – heard in
chambers at the Old Bailey on
Monday – was refused by the judge,
Mr Justice Saunders. He also granted
anonymity to potential security
industry witnesses due to give
evidence.

Devenney, of Strabane, Co Tyrone,
Northern Ireland, was due to enter a
plea to two breaches of the Act, but
the case was adjourned for legal
reasons.
Appearing via videolink from
Wandsworth prison, in southwest
London, and dressed in a green shirt
and blue striped sweater, he spoke
only to confirm his name.

He will return to court on a date to be
fixed in early October to enter a plea.
A provisional trial date has been set
for November 13.
It will be decided during the October
which parts of the evidence will need
to be heard in secret.

The petty officer's legal team are
currently in the process of consulting
security experts. They were given until
July 20 to submit their defence case to
the court.

He is being represented by Lord
Carlile of Berriew QC, a leading
barrister and former MP who
defended Paul Burrell, who was the
butler of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Devenney, who served at HMS Drake
in Plymouth, Devon, faces two charges
under 1911 Official Secrets Act.

They are collecting information for a
purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the state, collecting any
secret official code word or password
or sketch, plan, material article or
note, or other document or
information, namely cryptographic
material that was calculated to be or
might be, or was intended to be
directly or indirectly useful to an
enemy.

The second charge relates to
communicating information to
another person for a purpose
prejudicial to the safety or interests of
the state, communicating to another
person information that was
calculated to be or might be or was
intended to be directly or indirectly
useful to an enemy.

In 2008, in an unrelated case,
Corporal Daniel James, an Army
translator who worked for the head of
Nato forces in Afghanistan, was found
guilty of breaching the Official Secrets
Act.
Cpl James, 45, an Iranian by birth,
sent coded emails to about British
troop movements to the Iranian
military attaché in Kabul.

In 2010, MI6 employee Daniel
Houghton, was also convicted and
jailed for breaching the act.

The IT graduate, 25, helped develop a
method of intercepting emails in the
secret service, but tried to sell official
secrets for £2 million to agents from
the Netherlands.

In 1997, former MI6 officer Richard
Tomlinson was jailed for violating the
Official Secrets Act by giving a
synopsis of a proposed book to a
publisher.

He pleaded guilty to the breach, after
apparently giving details of his career
in the Secret Intelligence Service, but
the book was later published.

In 1983, Foreign and Commonwealth
Officer Sarah Tisdall was imprisoned
for leaking government documents to
the Guardian newspaper.

The UK Royal Air Force is on track to field two converted BAe 146-200QC transports by March 2013, with both aircraft now in work at Hawker Beechcraft Services' Broughton site in north Wales.

Acquired from TNT Airways, the quick change passenger/freighter aircraft have been painted in RAF colours and transferred from Belgium under an urgent operational requirement (UOR) deal for use in Afghanistan. BAE Systems Regional Aircraft was awarded a contract worth £15.5 million ($24.3 million) to prepare them for military use, and has subcontracted the conversion work to Hawker Beechcraft.

"Among the military equipment to be fitted will be defensive aids systems to enable these UOR aircraft to be protected to appropriate levels, at least equivalent to other UK aircraft operating in Afghanistan," BAE says.

Each of the adapted 146M aircraft will be capable of carrying fewer than the type's standard 96 passengers, due to the hot temperature and high-altitude environment encountered in Afghanistan, and due to the volume of equipment carried by combat personnel. Equipped with a large freight door, the baseline QC can alternatively be used to carry up to 10,600kg (23,300lb) on its cargo deck.

Introducing the BAe 146s will partially cover for the retirement from service of the RAF's last Lockheed Martin C-130K tactical transports by December 2012. Airbus Military's A400M is the long-term replacement for the latter type, with the UK due to take delivery of its first of 22 examples in 2014.

BAE says it is promoting military conversions of the 146 and Avro RJ to other air forces "to complement existing fleets of tactical airlifters such as C-130 Hercules, by taking on a wide variety of non-tactical air transport roles, thereby prolonging the fatigue life on ageing tactical assets".

The first of the UK’s next-generation stealth combat aircraft has today been handed over to the MoD.

At a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond formally accepted the first jet which will be known as Lightning II.

The aircraft are Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

The UK is the first country outside the US to receive these aircraft and Mr Hammond today announced that the MoD intends to order a fourth Lightning II aircraft next year to add to the three already on contract.

The RAF and Royal Navy will conduct flight trials of the jets which will operate from land bases and from sea.

Lightning II will be operational from land based airfields from 2018, when it will also commence flight trials off the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier. (Emphasis added—Ed.) Mr Hammond announced that the jets are likely to be based at RAF Marham, Norfolk, but that no decision has yet been made.

The UK will benefit from interoperability with the US Marine Corps which operates STOVL aircraft similar to the Lightning II.

The multi-role jet features the latest stealth and Intelligence, Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) technology and represents the cutting edge of combat aircraft design. Fifteen per cent of Joint Strike Fighter work is carried out in the UK and over 130 British companies contribute to the supply chain. It is worth over £1Bn to UK industry each year and will support around 25,000 British jobs over the next 25 years.

After the acceptance ceremony, the Defence Secretary toured Lockheed Martin’s production plant with representatives of major UK sub-contractors on the programme, including BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce.

Mr Hammond said:

“This hugely capable combat aircraft is now officially British and in the hands of our expert pilots. Highly skilled British aerospace workers are also playing a vital role in the delivery of Lightning II with UK companies involved in 15 per cent of the production and 25,000 British jobs sustained as a result.

“Having taken decisions on the final designs of our new aircraft carriers and balanced the MoD’s budget we can now proceed confidently to regenerating our carrier strike capability with these cutting edge stealth combat aircraft. “

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, said:

“The delivery of the United Kingdom’s first Lightning II marks the beginning of a new era in our ability to project Air Power from the land or sea. Alongside our increasingly capable combat-proven multi-role Typhoons, the Lightnings provide an additional complimentary capability to our growing Combat-ISTAR force.”

Royal Navy Fleet Commander, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, said:

“Jets at sea offer unmatched persistence and can guarantee the delivery of airpower around the globe. With the advent of Lightning II, UK Defence has its opportunity to maximise the utility of our carriers and this extraordinarily capable aircraft through a range of sea and land basing options. The result will be a strategic capability which will deliver for many decades to come.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: In the above statement, MoD mentions 2018 as the year in which land-based F-35As will be operational, and when its own F-35B STOVL variants will begin shipboard trials.
This demonstrates a remarkable degree of optimism, as neither the US Air Force nor Lockheed Martin have so far said when their own F-35As will achieve Initial Operational Capability, except that it will be after 2019.
Prudently, Lockheed Martin mentions no dates in its related statement below.)

THE last of the Royal Navy’s six new Type 45 destroyers has begun sea trials as she prepares to enter service in Portsmouth early next year.

HMS Duncan set sail from BAE Systems’ Scotstoun shipyard to embark on her first stage of sea trials off the west coast of Scotland. During three weeks at sea, she will undergo a trials programme that includes testing her power and propulsion systems.

The ship’s captain, Commander Phil Game, said: ‘Putting to sea for the first time is a significant milestone in the early life of the ship.’

The five previous Type 45s, Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon and Defender, have already been delivered to Portsmouth at a cost of £1bn each.